Sometimes nothing happens and we blog about that too

Posts Tagged ‘pregnant’

It is that time of the year! When summer break is ending and Captain’s Practice and Two-A-Days begin! Not one to be left out just because I’m no longer in high school, I weigh more than a football player, and have the lung capacity of… well, a pregnant person, Patrick and I started our own two-a-days on Saturday. Yes, that does sound a bit untoward, but we are firm in our commitment to not over-share, so read on.

I do, in fact, weigh more than #13 but not my favorite nose tackle, Big Snack (#98).

I should note that I took a hiatus from anything resembling exercise during the majority of July. It was too hot to walk — morning, noon, and night. And to top it all off, I had overdosed on my Prenatal Fitness with Summer Sanders DVD. I think I could still pop in the DVD and recite the workout dialogue with the TV on mute.

Anyway, last week Patrick suggested that we start walking since the temps were passing for cool in the late evenings. In an effort to stay close to home, we walk a .5-mile loop around our home twice each night. Most of the walk is uphill, so even though we are clocking in barely a mile, believe me, with the extra girth I’m lugging around, loosening joints, and my lung expansion problems, it feels like quite the challenge!

Reflective sneakers and a huge pink belly

On Saturday, I decided to kick it up a notch and get into shape for labor with a two-a-day workout. Two miles in 40+ non-consecutive minutes… I’m not sure if this will gear my body up for the marathon that is labor, but it is getting me into the spirit of sport and training from which I will be drawing during labor.

Oh! And labor will be soonish. I’m 38 weeks. We are taking bets. I say between weeks 41 and 42. Patrick says between 39 and 40. OB/GYN, just for fun, chimed in with 40-41weeks. Please let Patrick be right!

Yesterday at 36w4d, I spent the day alternating between naps and baby laundry. I love washing and folding these little baby clothes, blankets, and towels. How can socks be so little? It is noticeably quiet during this last month and I am stopping to smell the roses (and absence of baby poo). This is a definite calm before the storm.

How did a hoarding phobic, non-shopper end up with so many goodies to wash? Baby Showers!

Happily overwhelmed at Pittsburgh “Jack and Jill” shower!

Baby clothes for months!

Red, White, and Blue!

Thanks to the goodwill of our friends and family, we had three showers!! Thank you notes all written and baby treasures sorted, I am still surprised and in awe of the thoughtfulness and generosity of the wonderful people we know.

Mugging at office shower!

Patrick shows off new onesies!

Surprise! Our faces as the stroller of our dreams is presented.

I expected we’d drop quite a bit of money on the big items, and just as much on the small stuff, in typical first-time parent fashion. But I never anticipated that the majority of the big and little items would be purchased for our lil dragon by friends and fam!

Connecticut shower hostesses!

Opening gifts at my ladies’ luncheon!

Hamming it up!

I think this onesie fits her already!

Thanks everyone! I just felt like we needed to say it again. Also, wow! It is such a powerful feeling to receive all this love for our little baby dragon!

Invites with dragons are difficult to find, but pink giraffe theme is just as cute!

Baby dragon, you can come out soon! Lots of loving people are waiting for you! Especially your mommy and daddy!

I have already set up a fully-equipped baby room with necessities and niceties: crib; changing table stocked with cloth diapers, wipes, and swaddling blankets; bookshelf already full of fantastic books; futon for feedings and mommy-naps; bouncy chair with mobile attachment; and a space-themed baby “gym” including a space-monkey toy hanging from it (how cool is that?). Stocked up!

However, there are items my friends SWEAR by, that I refuse to buy. I am stubborn and I accept that about myself. I hope you can too. I do realize that I may very well buy these items later, but I’d rather it be an organic, need-based purchase, not a registry frenzy/naive new parent sort of thing.

Essential Items I Stubbornly Refuse To Purchase Now (And Forever?)

Baby Monitor: I have crazy good ears. I have mentioned that here. I will hear that baby crying down the hall. My experience is that babies are not shy about crying, so I’m certain I’ll hear her when I’m downstairs too. I am also slightly neurotic — it is the American woman way. So hearing any movements on that monitor will drive me bananas and send me running to the baby’s room. Not doing it. Ever. Stubborn.

Breast pump: What if I can’t do it? That’s $250 wasted! Then what do I do with it afterward? We may be a one-and-done family. My hospital rents them, so I may look into that option if the need arises.

Bottles: I know, know. I’ve done lost my ever-lovin’ mind! But here’s the thing: If my breast milk already comes with two easily-accessible, temp-controlled feeding devices, shouldn’t I just use those? I’m going to give it a go with the handy milk sacks I already have and wait and see. That is $ saved and time saved — from pumping, fetching, washing, heating, sorting between nipple types and flow options, etc. We’ll see how long this lasts.

An Infant Car Seat: The convertible car seat I bought accommodates a baby between 5-70 pounds. However, many folks buy an infant seat (5-25/30 pounds) first and then move baby to the convertible seat. Experienced parents insist that the infant seat, which doubles as a bulky bassinet-type carrier and fits onto different stroller systems, is better than sliced bread. I hear you, experienced parents. I even believe you!! But I would rather jostle my baby when getting in and out of the car, and wear her when I go out, just to avoid getting the infant car seat. Stubborn.

Two Car Seats: Can a couple survive with just one? The overwhelming majority say, “No way, you weird hippies!” This may be true (not the hippie part), but our friends all bought two seats or two bases before baby arrived. Sure, you are going to use something you already have. I would like to see if we can be a two-car but one car-seat family. So interested to see how this plays out!

A Second or Third Stroller: One kid, one stroller. We got a lightweight but sturdy and maneuverable collapsible stroller. And it is black! No thank you, bulky, multi-colored, heavy travel system. No thank you, teeny umbrella stroller, I’ll pass on you too. Many flexible parents purchase additional strollers as their children grow and their needs change. Makes sense, but I just plan to be stubborn about this too.

In sum, I’m stubborn. If you see a woman in line at Target with a screaming infant attached to her chest, purchasing 20 bottles, a baby monitor, and an infant car seat… that isn’t me. I’m stubborn.

I started a baby registry early, because I wanted to SEE how much stuff we will need. I have met a couple of babies and have noted that babies come with a lot of baggage. Literally. But this was always a pretty vague concept. So I decided to lay this stuff out virtually to give myself enough time to wrap my mind around it. Here is what I’ve learned since I’ve started a baby registry:

1. Babies are divas. A baby-sized suitcase will not cut it on a trip of any length.

2. An umbrella stroller is not a stroller with an umbrella attached to the handle.

3. Amazon.com is cheaper than Target and Babies R Us. Also, baby expenses are not so much that I will consider shopping at WalMart.

4. All cribs look like baby jails. Because they are.

5.Baby books make me cry happy tears. Even just books about making baby food.

Lulu watches over the first of the baby gear

6. If you write “baby” and draw a smiley face on a mini food processor you can sell it for a lot of money.

7. Kids sit in car seats for a loooong time.

8. I will buy something solely because it is called “My Brest Friend.”

9. I am less excited about buying baby clothes for my own baby, knowing that they quickly outgrow clothes. We may become nudists until the kid stops growing.

After wishing and hoping, and planning and trying, we are finally knocked up! I would love to tell you this is just what I had hoped for. Everything I had wanted. But I have had some seriously rough weeks. Skipping over constipation, because I’m still not over that humiliation, I want to share the awful truths of 1st trimester. Note, every pregnancy is different, but this was my experience…

Morning Sickness– This term suggests a quick vomit in the morning and then on to the rest of your day. More appropriate term… 24/7 Violent Vomitting and Non-stop Nausea Sickness– I burst blood vessels on my cheeks and broke out in rashes from puking so hard, morning, afternoon, and night… Nap and repeat. I was so sick and developed food aversions to everything. I seriously thought that I would never eat, desire, or enjoy food again. Our kitchenwares-themed Christmas became a cruel joke.

Remember when I thought I’d miss coffee and wine? Ha! The thought of either still makes me ill as I begin second trimester. Seeing people on TV imbibe these beverages made me ill. And by “ill” I mean “puke violently.” So needless to say I missed a good bit of TV first trimester! (Oh! But here is something I miss that I never expected to have to say goodbye to–my Murad facial cleanser. Burst blood vessels, rash, zits, gorgeous.)

Sensitivity to Smell– You may find some smells more offensive than you used to. More appropriate term… Smellucinations– EVERY smell… soap, celery (vom!), granola bars, crackers, even paper, smelled as though I sprayed an unventilated room with each scent and amped it up to the 1 millionth degree. Lovely morning smells like coffee felt like torture to me. We still don’t talk about that one time Patrick “forgot” and brewed coffee in the house. I lost my mind, my breakfast, and lunch. And then there were those two weeks when everything smelled like celery even though Patrick swore there was none in the house. I had to throw away my iPhone case because it smelled like celery.

It wasn’t all bad. There was pregnancy fatigue! The best part about needing to sleep every few hours was that sleep is the best break from feeling sick and smelling all those horrible smells. Silver lining. That’s all I’ve got for you.

Pregnancy brain! This is a rather disturbing condition that debilitates one’s short-term and working memory. To be honest, my short-term memory wasn’t so fab to begin with, but now I’m a scatterbrained lunatic. And let’s be honest, I didn’t have many mental demands while on bed rest but ask me to remember one thing and I couldn’t do it! Patrick threatened to tie a notepad around my neck, but I would probably have forgotten to use it. Sometimes pregnancy brain is funny…

Me: Hey chuck, I want us to watch a baby-making video together. I think it will be fun!

Crying All Day. I’m not really the sentimental cry-during-movies type. With the exception of my wedding (much to Patrick’s amusement), I do not cry during “sappy stuff.” Now I cry about everything. Nursery ideas make me cry. Patrick smiling at me, watching The Voice, orphans, recounting The Secret Garden = sobby girly mess. Didn’t think it could happen to me.

I know I’m supposed to end this post saying, “It will all be worth it come September!” I am sure it will be such a delight to not sleep and change and wash poopy diapers, but this first trimester was pretty horrible and I just wanted to document this before I forget and decide to do it again… My new motto, “One and done!”

Okay, I can’t be this surly anymore, because I am feeling so much better. Nearly human! Patrick and I are already rubbing my belly (no, not a baby-bump yet, just fat) and telling the lil dragon how much we love it. They say all this “morning sickness” is a great sign in pregnancy, so it was actually a bit of a relief on days when I was able to keep at least one meal down. In fact, once I started feeling better I started to worry something was wrong with the pregnancy. But those worries were assuaged when I had an ultrasound, after a few glorious days sans sickness, and got to watch our baby wiggle beneath the ultrasound wand. I think I really fell in love that day!

I know, I know, I made a big stink about not thinking or writing about baby-related stuff this month. But, whoa boy! My TTC-centric Twitter feed had this nugget of well-written genius and I just had to share it with you. I knew no good would come of reading this article… I’ve been down this road before, but I couldn’t resist. Could you with a title like this?

Now, I could share the sensible and well-written tips divulged in this article like:

…the mother-to-be should not care about what she eats. If she eats what she likes, the chances are that either of the sexes will come.

Nothing is sacrosanct here. It is not exact science but if you do these things you can have either of the sexes. It has however been seen with 94% accuracy that if you do some things in certain ways you will have a baby of choice. (Um… O…K…)

I could go on. Instead, I will share a few articles I’m brainstorming along the same vein. Seriously, these are 5 Articles you MUST read, if you do not mind whether you are reading crap or genius. (It will be crap.)

8 Accessories You Must Buy, If You Do Not Mind Whether You Are Wearing Accessories or Not

17 People You Must Invite To Your Next Dinner Party, If You Do Not Mind Whether Your Guests are Superbly Interesting or Boring A-holes

4 Banks You Must Rob, If You Do Not Mind Whether Your Next Location Has Cutting Edge Security Or One Lame Guard

11 Beaches You Must Go To, If You Do Not Mind Whether The Beaches Are Clean and Gorgeous or Nuclear Plant Run-Off Zones

1 Trying To Conceive Blog You Must Read, If You Do Not Mind Whether You Are Reading About Trying To Conceive Or Autumnal Adventures (Or Random Rants)